It is well known to those skilled in the art that hydrocarbons are a class of very important industrial chemicals which find a variety of uses in the industry such as, for example, in production of various organic compounds. It is well known to isomerize a linear hydrocarbon to a branched-chained hydrocarbon using a Group VIII metal-containing catalyst. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,859.
However, in the known processes, the conversion of a linear hydrocarbon to a branched-chained hydrocarbon and the selectivity thereto are generally not as high as one skilled in the art would desire. Accordingly, there is an ever-increasing need to develop a process for producing a catalyst for converting a linear hydrocarbon to the more valuable branched hydrocarbon. The conversion of a linear hydrocarbon to a branched hydrocarbon is hereinafter referred to as hydrocarbon conversion process. Such development would also be a significant contribution to the art and to the economy.